19 October 2000
MEDIA STATEMENT
RALPH HOTERE: BLACK LIGHT EXHIBITION OPENS AT TE PAPA
The work of Ralph Hotere, one of New Zealand's greatest living artists, will feature in a special exhibition opening at
Te Papa on Saturday, 28 October 2000.
The Ralph Hotere: Black Light, which will run until 25 February 2001, is a collaboration between Te Papa and the Dunedin
Public Art Gallery. The exhibition focuses on the artist's major installation works and painting series, beginning with
the austere Black Paintings of 1968 with their slim coloured crosses through to the scale and grandeur of works such as
Black Phoenix.
Te Papa's curator Ian Wedde said today that the exhibition supports Te Papa's vision to celebrate and explore what makes
New Zealand culture and heritage unique.
"Ralph Hotere: Black Light offers a look into the artist's intensely personal world. It explores the tensions between
the artist's silences and his protests, the sense of a deep spirituality in his work, and the many elegant and
meticulous ways in which he has claimed the colour black as his signature."
Ralph Hotere: Black Light also celebrates the marvellous and creative friendship between Ralph Hotere and the sculptor
Bill Culbert, with three of the major works in this exhibition, products of this friendship.
"Conversations and friendships are central to Ralph Hotere's art and this exhibition reflects those close ties," said Mr
Wedde.
Born in 1931 in the Te Aupouri community of Taikarawa in the northern Hokianga, Hotere has inspired commentators and
awed viewers for more than forty years.
Famous for his quiet reserve, and for his refusal to replace the experience of art with wordy explanations, Hotere is
also known as a passionate advocate of causes, most famously his opposition to the proposal to build an aluminium
smelter at Aramoana.
Hotere's themes are explored further by some of New Zealand's leading writers and critics in the accompanying exhibition
catalogue. This lavish book contains full colour reproductions and essays which illuminate and honour a man who is
regarded by many as New Zealand's most significant contemporary artist. Ralph Hotere Black Light has kindly been
sponsored by Compaq.
ENDS
For further information contact: Vicki Connor Communications & Marketing Co-ordinator 04 381 7083 025 620 8321